title: [Viral loads in pediatric HIV patients with antiretroviral treatment].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Viral load in pediatric patients with HIV infections can help to make therapeutic decisions to modify the evolution of the disease.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate viral load in positive HIV children with antiretroviral treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Viral load was measured every six months during three years in fifty pediatric patients chosen randomly in aged 1 to 12 years, using the Test Monitor HIV-1 AMPLICOR, version 1.5.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the three years follow up, there was an increase in CD4 and CD8 lymphocyte count and decrease in the viral load. However, there was no significant relationship between lymphocyte subpopulation counts and viral loads.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Viral load demonstrated to be an appropriate method to quantify plasma HIV-RNA. This tool can help to define the condition of a particular patient to predict clinical course of the disease and to assess the response to the treatment.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Regional de Referencia Virológica, Instituto de Investigaciones Clínicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela. letiporto@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Leticia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Porto-Espinoza
authors.forename: Reyna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moronta
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cuadra-Sánchez
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Callejas-Valero
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Costa-León
authors.forename: Francisca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Monsalve-Castillo
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bernardoni
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Estévez
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014687:Venezuela; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents